1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This system relates to process microscopy, and more specifically to a confocal microscope system suitable for the microscopic examination of large numbers of objects, for example microscope slides, in applications such as automated histological analysis, morphometry, inspections of semiconductor wafers and micromachined components, and other applications involving the inspection or analysis of animate or inanimate objects of very small dimensions.
2. REVIEW OF THE ART
Scanning microscopes are well known in the microscopy art and confocal microscopes in particular are capable of providing enhanced resolution and the capability of three dimensional imaging of objects, utilizing the ability of such microscopes to reject image data other than that from the particular focal plane being scanned.
A disadvantage of such microscopes is the considerable time generally needed to complete a scan of an object, which reduces the usefulness of the technology in process microscopy, where substantial numbers of objects require to be imaged.
Attempts have been made to improve the speed of confocal microscopy by utilizing multiple aperture scanning disks, such as Nipkow disks, but such rotating scanning disks increase the complication of the basically simple confocal microscope system, and are in general highly inefficient optically, which may again require a trade-off between resolution and speed.
The principles of confocal microscopy were disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,013,467 (Minsky), and are described in considerably more detail in the book "Confocal Microscopy" edited by T. Wilson, Academic Press, 1990.